The 12 days of GCHQ quizmas: test your brain power with these daily puzzles

This article was taken from the December 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content bysubscribing online.

These images were produced by micro-computed tomography (CT) scanning, which uses X-rays to peer non-invasively inside objects to create 3D virtual models. Dan Sykes, a micro-CT scanning specialist at London's Natural History Museum, uses a Nikon Metrology HMX ST 225 CT scanner, which administers X-rays of up to 225 kilovolts to create the images. The scanner fires an electron beam at a metal target that emits a cone-beam of X-rays at the object to be scanned, which rotates slowly on a metal plate. Algorithms then render the 2D information into a 3D model.

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The scans here are of 19th-century glass artworks of sea-creatures, created by German father-and-son team Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. Each year, Sykes and his colleagues produce around 4,000 such images -- including forensic evidence, injection-moulded circulatory systems and meteorites -- for the museum and other clients. "To be able to see what's inside these unique specimens without causing any damage is a massive advantage," says Sykes.